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The 50-year-old Mountain View Golf Course outside of Santa Paula closed Wednesday with plans for new owners to convert the 60-plus acre site into a Chumash learning center and preservation area.

Officials confirmed Wednesday morning that golfers were taking their final hacks at a course known for its low rates, tree-lined fairways, cheeseburgers and a 13th-green shaped like a heart. Mountain View general manager Dan Hodapp said the purchase by the Wishtoyo Chumash Foundation was finalized in December with escrow scheduled to close as early as later this week.

The asking price was $3.4 million, according to a September story in The Star. Real estate broker Scott Dunbar, who represents Mountain View owner Cathy Haley, said the buying price was within a “couple hundred thousand” of that number.

The closure and sale were pushed largely by two issues: Lack of golfers and lack of water. The Santa Clara River has dried up four years in a row, meaning course officials could no longer water fairways.

The dried fairways and deteriorating conditions pushed golfers away from the course. The lack of golfers meant less revenue to use to maintain and improve conditions, said Dunbar.

“It’s sad,” said Hodapp of a place where golfers knew they could almost always get on the course and play 18 for as little as $14. “They’ve had a little piece of heaven here.”

Wishtoyo is a nonprofit that aims to protect and preserve Chumash culture with projects that include a rebuilt Chumash Village in Malibu. The group’s goals include educating youth and fostering responsibility for marine habitats, watersheds and species ranging from the steelhead trout to condors. Board members include Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Deborah Sanchez and actor Beau Bridges.

Mati Waiya, founder and executive director of Wishtoyo, confirmed the nonprofit was purchasing the golf course and adjacent land with the total purchase at under 100 acres. Noting the Santa Clara River is a Chumash area, he said the plan is to protect the land and to start a learning center that could be similar to the village created by the foundation in Malibu.

“It was going to close down because of the drought,” he said of the course. “We had been looking for a location to do conservation of some land.”

A photo from earlier this year shows the remains of a lake that used to store up to 1.7 million gallons of water from the Santa Clara River for use on the Mountain View Golf Course. Now the river is dry and the course is closing.(Photo: VC STAR FILE PHOTO)

Waiya said the site could include an academy for under-served youth, an area for special events. A modified nine-hole golf course that incorporates the area’s natural habitat and could be used to teach the game to youths is a possibility.

“We don’t know yet,” he said. “We’re considering it.”

The golf course’s owner, Haley, lives in Atlanta and inherited the property from her deceased father, Tony Pawlak. Hodapp said the course employed four full-time and five part-time workers.

Tom Calvin, 68, Ventura, golfed at a course he described as a diamond in the rough once or twice a week for some 30 years with his final round coming Wednesday morning. Afterward, he and his friends lingered in the clubhouse.

“We all found it hard to get up and leave because it was going to be the last time,” he said, noting the course also served as a community gathering spot. “It’s going to be missed by a lot of people, not only golfers.”

Ralph Corona, the course’s retired superintendent, has been part of Mountain View for 25 years and said he still worked on maintaining the grounds for free. Corona designed the heart-shaped 13th green in memory of his wife, Lisa Rene Hidalgo, who died of cancer in 2007.

He lives in a trailer that he refurbished into a home along the 14th fairway and said he was given a 60-day eviction notice about a month ago.

“It’s just not right,” he said of the course closing. “It’s sad. It’s really sad.”

The course’s final day started at sunrise with temperatures just above freezing. Hodapp said a couple told him it was their favorite course but they hadn’t played it in 20 years.

“If this is your favorite course and you haven’t been here in 20 years, that’s why we’re closing,” he said.